1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to gas reactors for synthesizing a or decomposing a gas, and particularly relates to a gas reactor for synthesizing a gas or decomposing a gas based on plasma discharge and catalyticaction.
2. Description of the Related Art
In today's highly industrialized societies, various pollutants pose threats to human health. Examples of such pollutants include pollutant gases such as NO.sub.x, CO.sub.x, SO.sub.x, etc., emitted from automobile engines. These and other pollutant gases need to be decomposed into innocuous gases prior to the release to the atmosphere in order to prevent resulting health problems.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,474,747 and No. 5,492,678 issued to one of the inventors of the present invention and to other co-inventors address the above need by presenting a gas purifier which effectively decomposes pollutant gases based on a synergy effect of plasma discharge and catalytic action. U.S. Pat. No. 5,474,747 discloses a gas purifier comprising reeds provided with a catalyst such as rhodium. Between the reeds, a glow discharge is generated to create plasma action which decomposes gases synergically with catalytic action. U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,678 discloses a gas purifier which utilizes the same principle of the synergy effect between the plasma action and the catalytic action but employs a rotating fan configuration to pursue further effective gas purification. This fan has blades (or at least one blade) provided with a layer of catalyst, and a glow discharge is generated at a gap between the blades and an inner wall of the housing of the fan.
The gas purifiers described above are specifically designed for decomposition of gases. However, it has been found that the combination of plasma action and catalytic action can be used for effectively synthesizing a gas from different gases. That is, the synergy effect of plasma action and catalytic action can be used not only for the decomposition of gases but also for the synthesis of gases.
Accordingly, there is a need for a gas reactor which has an appropriate configuration for gas synthesis based on the synergy effect of plasma action and catalytic action.